Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd). It houses the Surgeons' Hall Museum, and the library and archive of the RCSEd. The present Surgeons' Hall was designed by William Henry Playfair and completed in 1832, and is a category A listed building. Surgeons' Hall Museum is the major medical museum in Scotland, and one of Edinburgh's many tourist attractions. The museum is recognised as a collection of national significance by the Scottish Government. The museum reopened in September 2015, after being closed for an eighteen-month period of redevelopment.
History
Origins The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was incorporated on 1 July 1505, when it received its Seal of Cause or charter and became styled as "The Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh". The barbers remained linked until 1722 with apothecaries joining from 1657. By charter of King George III in 1788 the incorporation had "Royal" added as a prefix. The Museum at Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh dates from 1699 when the incorporation announced that they were making a collection of ‘natural and artificial curiosities’. and advertised for these in the first edition of a local paper, the Edinburgh Gazette. Daniel Defoe, an early visitor in 1726, wrote in his A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain that the "chamber of rarities" contained many curious things too numerous for him to describe. Much of this early collection was given to the University of Edinburgh in the 1760s.
Nineteenth-century expansion By the early years of the 19th century, the incorporation had received a Royal Charter to become the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The college saw its primary role as the teaching of anatomy and surgery, the training of surgeons, and examination of their acquired knowledge. Anatomy and pathology specimens were crucial to that function. The museum expanded dramatically with the acquisition of two large collections. John Barclay, a successful anatomy demonstrator in the extramural school of medicine donated his collection, while Sir Charles Bell, Professor of Surgery in the University of London and latterly in the University of Edinburgh sold his collection to the museum. These collections were much too large to be housed in the original 1697 Surgeons' Hall, and so the surgeons commissioned the leading Edinburgh architect William Playfair to build the present day Surgeons' Hall, which opened in 1832. At first, the entire upper floor of the building was devoted to the museum collections, which were open to the public and attracted large visitor numbers. Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, the collection expanded as it became customary for surgeons and pathologists to donate not only specimens which they regarded as interesting or instructive, but surgical instruments and equipment. With the great scientific and technical advances of the time, the museum began to acquire anaesthetic equipment, histology slides, X-rays and photographs.
Twentieth-century developments At the start of the 20th century, the College's need for a large meeting and ceremonial hall led to the conversion of about half of the museum space into what is now the main College hall. The 1907 minutes recorded the view that "it is essential to get rid of the Barclay collection which... has ceased to be of any value to the Fellows or to anyone visiting the museum." This was over-ruled and the retained Barclay collection was relocated to a new home, created by the conversion and incorporation of an adjoining tenement building. Anatomical and pathological specimens in jars were seen as increasingly irrelevant as learning aids for trainee surgeons. The collections now began to focus on specialised areas, such as dentistry, histopathology, and radiology, whilst continuing the collection of surgical memorabilia – particularly instruments and equipment. In the 1950s much of the Barclay collection was given to other museums. For doctors the collections progressively became the realm of the researcher and the medical historian. While the museum had been open to the public since its earliest days, by the 1960s public access had become restricted to a few pre-booked tours.
Revival In the latter decades of the 20th century the emphasis changed to make the collections more interesting to the lay public and more easily interpreted by them. In 1989 a grant from the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust resulted in a permanent exhibition entitled 500 Years of Surgery in Scotland, which made use of a wide variety of media including models, paintings, photographs, film loops, book, journal and newspaper displays, and other memorabilia. This, together with a regular series of temporary exhibitions and constant improvement of the interpretation, resulted in a progressive increase in visitor numbers.
Upgrading 2014–2015 In June 2014, the museum temporarily closed for a major upgrade. This was to provide lift access to the museum and improved and updated displays. These were the first radical alterations to the building since 1908. The museum reopened in September 2015 with this refurbishment allowing twice as many items to be exhibited. The work cost £4.2 million, with £2.7 m of this provided through a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
2015 expansion In February 2015, the college revealed their plans for a £1.5 million expansion which would provide a new conference and events centre. The expansion was achieved by the college taking over an adjacent three-floor building on Hill Place, which had formerly been a languages school. this was opened in 2016 as the Prince Philip Building, named for the college's patron, Prince Philip, who became patron in 1955.
The museum buildings
The collections originally occupied the entire upper floor of Playfair's Surgeons' Hall, which was built to house them. About half of this floorspace was converted into the College main Hall in 1905, but the original Playfair pathology museum next to it retained the Playfair design, decor and display cabinets. It is now named the Wohl Pathology Museum. The adjacent History of Surgery museum, the dental collection and the techniques and technologies display are in adjoining rooms which were originally part of the adjacent property at 9 Hill Square.
Collections
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